enough of. "50 year war -- the changing face of poverty in america." that is on at 8:00 p.m. eastern. "the ed show" is up next. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" live from washington, d.c. let's get to work. >> using the george washington bridge of public resource to exact a political vendetta is a crime. >> not one single link to chris christie has been found. >> i was blind sided. >> i was blind sided in that circle of trust. >> we're starting our own circle of trust and guess what? you're not in it. >> i don't know. >> so if those tie back into the

governor in any way, it clearly becomes an impeachable offense. >> if there's some evidence that he knew about it, he's taking a complete risk with his political career and it's over. >> don't mess with the bully, young man. you'll get the horns. >> guys, we all work that way. >> we have a really smart person in chris christie. >> good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. after years of pretty good public opinion, the tables are turning on chris christie. he may have misused hurricane sandy relief funds. first, the bridge gate scandal is still heating up with new developments. christie's vengeful style of politics is coming back to haunt

him. was christie responsible and did he know what his aids were up to? new jersey democrats think christie knew what was going on. they're not buying his press conference last week. >> this was in the midst of his reelection campaign. any governor running for reelection is going to want to know about problems that come up. these people got an e-mail from the executive director of the port authority saying that laws were broken. his chief council knew. his deputy chief of staff knew. his in coming chief of staff knew. >> in the arena of fairness, it has to be pointed out there is currently no direct evidence linking the governor to the lane closures. but he went on to say it is unbelievable that the governor didn't know. >> bridget kelly, who sent the

e-mail, his deputy chief of staff on august 13, to close the lanes down. she spent the rest of the day with the governor. this senior aid who was with him that day who sent the order never once communicated with him. it's unbelievable. >> he also made clear that a crime had been committed by the governor's office. >> when you use the george washington bridge for what the e-mails show to be a political payback, that amounts to using public property for a private purpose or political purpose and that's not legal. that constitutes a crime. >> if christie was involved, impeachment is on the table. >> if it becomes known the governor was involved and he knew about it, that raises serious questions at the assembly ought to look at.

they have the ability to do articles of impeachment. we're way ahead of that. >> none of that conversation was on friday. christie is facing two investigations. on second, the ranking member of the house oversight committee said he could be facing a third. >> when i look at christie's style, it's hard for me to believe he was blind sided by anything because he doesn't come off that way. again, i think we need to wait and see. there may be a point where we have to look into it, but nobody is above the law. so we'll look into it if it comes to us. >> the pressure is piling on the governor of new jersey. there is something else we need to point out tonight. and i think this is a big part of the story. a few weeks ago "the wall street journal" reported that christie

phoned new york governor cuomo. he asked him to ask his guy, patri patrick boy, to backoff his investigation of bridgegate. i think the governor knew that he was in trouble and there were troubled waters ahead. i think governor christie called cuomo to put a fire out before it got out of hand. people are calling his press conference a remarkable presentation that he didn't know anything about it and he was blind sided by it. he couldn't have been blind sided by it because he placed a serious call to the governor of new york to ask his representative of the port authority, can you get your guy

to back off? federal auditors are investigating whether christie improperly used dollars for disaster relief in a tourism campaign. the ads started airing as christie was gearing up for his 2013 reelection bid. ♪ >> the jersey shore is open. >> the word is spreading. >> because we're strongi iner t the storm. >> you bet we are. >> looks like a campaign commercial to me. in august, the park press reported new jersey paid $4.7 million to produce the commercials. this was $2 million over what the next highest bidder had

sought. now i'd like to see christie explain those numbers to the people of new jersey who haven't received their relief money as of yet for storm sandy. he thinks the funds were misused saying, this was money that could have been directly used for sandy recovery and as you know, many of my constituents still haven't got the money that is needed to rebuild their homes or raise their homes or to help. christie has gone from republican hero to republican zero here. i say zero because the tough guy is catching up with the guy. the governor is facing one state level investigation and two federal investigations. and i also find it very interesting that there are people like rudy juliany and karl rove, not people who

register high on the truth meter, these are the people coming out to defend chris christie? why aren't new jersey republicans stepping out saying, that was a fantastic press conference. it was 100% true. we support this guy 100%. he didn't know anything and we believe him. i don't hear any of that. from elected officials in new jersey. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question -- do you believe chris christie is telling the truth? text a for yes. text b for no. you can always go to our blog. we'll bring you the results later on in the show. for more, let me bring in new jersey assemblyman lewis greenwald. good to have you with us tonight. i appreciate your time. i want you to pick up on the point that i just made and maybe i'm wrong.

maybe they're out there supporting governor christie in a very vocal manner and just happened to miss it. i don't think that's the case. where's the republican support? why aren't they standing with the governor vocally? >> ed, that's a great question. they're been very silent on this issue up until this point. i will tell you when we had the committee hearing last week, they did vote to hold the witnesses in contempt that took the fifth amendment from the drpa. it will be very telling come thursday in new jersey our legislature reorganizes out of the elections of november. on thursday, we're having a special session to form this special committee to continue the investigation and to continue the subpoena under our chairman. it will be interesting to see if republicans are on that vote.

>> do you think governor christie is telling the truth? >> i've worked with him for the last four years. i have to take him at his word. when i watched him as a u.s. attorney, we will follow this evidence wherever it goes. the governor himself, after interviewing his senior staff, thought he was going to hold his own internal investigation. he has questions. we have questions. the truth of the matter is the one thing that is undisputable, there's no one that things bridget kelly made that decision on her. >> what's your response to the story that governor christie called cuomo to ask him in a personal phone call -- there's a whole bunch of e-mails flying back and forth. there's no paper trail to the

governor, but there's a personal phone call. governor christie, who is doing a sell job in his press conference that he didn't have anything to do with it, he's just blind sided with all this. it was on his radar screen enough to call someone on the democratic side to ask him for help. don't you think that's a rather important piece of information? >> it raises a red flag. i'm hearing about this as i'm listening to your show in the lead-in to this interview. again, the governor made a statement last week the first he heard of this was at 8:50 before his press conference. what i've asked for and what we're asking for as members on this committee ais that these

e-mails be turned over without the redactions. this process is going to have to be a very methodical and systematic approach. we need to see what is the root of this. there was an abuse of power. how deep did it go, who was involved, and who knew will only come across as this investigation takes its proper form. >> the governor said at his press conference last week that he was given a full briefing by his staff. i would take that to be plural. more than one person in the room if it is staff. i would be interesting to know as far as that full briefing is

concern eed on the other issue misuse of disaster relief funds. do you think governor christie is out of bounds being involved with these funds being used for a tourism campaign? >> i know how close you are physically to new jersey. you know very well the jersey shore is a treasure for us. it is the backbone of our tourism economy. those commercials were critically important. the question is whether or not the governor needed to participate in them to show it was open for business or not. again, that was a different legislature and a different time. the reality is people are going to look at this.

there was a federal inquiry into whether or not this was appropriate long before any of us knew about bridgegate. what is troubling to us as elected leaders is we have families and businesses that even after going through the first season of tourism and vacations are still not back in their homes and businesses that are still not up. what's more important than the commercial talking about how strong new jersey is the strength to rebuild that tour m tourism. we had heard rumors there was a bidder that was less than the previous bidder, but this is a federal investigation that we're

not involved in right now. it started long before this. in any bid like this, we have reformed new jersey's contracting and bidding laws. this should be more than just a request for a proposal for contracting fees. it should be about who is the most qualified to do the work. it is a reasonable and legitimate question to ask how a bid could have been selected that was almost twice as much. >> all right. lewis greenwald, who is the democratic majority leader. i appreciate your time. remember to answer tonight's question. share your thoughts with us on twitter on ed show and facebook. coming up, west virginia left out in the dry. we'll give you an update on the water use ban.

also conservative stall tactics in the extension of unemployment benefits. 1.3 million people are still counting on this, but no action yet. all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat too, and has five grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i -- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? oops. [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. ensure high protein... 50% of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. see? he's a good egg. [ major nutrition ] ensure high protein. ensure. nutrition in charge!

time for the trenders. the social media nation has decided and we are reporting. here are today's top trenders. >> scandal. >> the number three trender, going for the gold. >> we're hosting the golden globes for our second time because this is hollywood. >> amy pohler and tina fey shine at the golden globes. >> it's the story of how george clooney would rather float away

in space and die than spend one minute with a woman his own age. >> enjoy it while it lasts netflix. you're not going to be feeling so smug in the next few years when snap chat is accepting best drama. the number two trender, tapped out. >> there is a big crisis after a chemical leak. >> some families are struggling to feed and bathe their own kids. >> west virginians are continuing to suffer from water woes. >> west virginia american water will begin giving the green light in zones. >> we can hold up. today's top trender, on the line. >> three million americans who stopped received their

unemployment benefits two weeks ago. the clock is ticking. 1200 bucks doesn't go very far. without these essentials, job hunting is almost impossible. congress stalls on renewing unemployment insurance. john boehner is a major obstacle. if congress doesn't act, the white house says 4.9 million americans could be losing their benefits by the end of 2014. the republicans are on defense. they can't fake empathy. >> congresswoman, thanks so much. >> i'm happy to be right with you, ed. >> thank you very much. i'm here to talk about this issue with other members of congress and the ttp. that's what brings me to washington to get the skinny of exactly what's going on.

this does not look good. looking at the possibility of unemployment extension for 1.3 million americans, it doesn't look good right now. do you see it looking differently? >> every week 72,000 more people join these ranks. i think it's closer to 1.5 million now and growing. i don't get it. i don't think that it looks great, but we have to be tough. we're supposed to go on recess back in the district next week. can you imagine just leaving those people hanging again while congress people leave washington again? >> that looks pretty much how it's going to happen. the republicans are not going to move on this unless they get something. so you'll be left with nothing. the budget deal has been done. the next big thing is going to be the debt ceiling in their world. they don't have it on their agenda in january about

extending unemployment benefits. are the democrats ready to go somewhere to get some offsets for these? >> we cannot leave without getting this done. there's going to be a really big push. >> are you willing to find the off jets. >> john boehner keeps moving the goal posts. it's not just offsets. 14 of the 17 times that unemployment insurance benefits have been extended, there's been no pay for whatsoever. but he wants the keystone pipeline right now as the jobs program to be added on. every time there is some sort of agreement, john boehner wants more. >> are you seeing the keystone pipeline is going to be part of the unemployment extension benefits? >> this is the jobs program that he would want added. it's a nonstarter for me. this is the cruellest, meanest, and stupidest thing.

you know when unemployment benefits aren't extended that causes more unemployment. as much as 250,000 jobs can be lost because people don't have the money to go out and spend. >> if that's the case, how do we know the republicans aren't trying to ditch the economy coming in before the midterms? we've had 46 months of private sector job growth. maybe that's just too good for them. >> the cynicism if that were really an agenda -- i think this ideological feeling that the poor and middle class people can be demonized if they're not working, i've never seen that before. >> friday on this program, we put out the rent, the electrical, the heating ball. what do the republicans say these people are supposed to do now? what are they supposed to do?

>> i think that they think if they really wanted to job, they would get off their lazy bums and go out and find one. i don't know. do they not see those people lining up at food pantries and lining up at unemployment offices. i guess they don't see those people in their own districts. >> paul ryan says the government can only go so far. this has to be solved in communities. what's your response to that? >> that's ridiculous. there's no possible way. does he think the churches are going to do it? they're doing as much as they can right now. >> progress has stalled because there's a lot of horse trading going on. it may never get to the house. if that's the case, where does

that leave us a month from now? >> you just showed the poll numbers. most americans see how important it is for us to extend unemployment benefits. i think there is risk to the republicans to let that many people be without work in this economy, making the entire economy worse. it's not just bad for those people. i think there will be public pressure building up, but i hope it's soon. >> will public pressure turn the republicans? in the past, it hasn't. so the democrats are going to have to do some kind of a deal here on offsets or this isn't going to happen. it's very clear to me that the republicans have drawn the line. they won't move on this. do the democrats have to make a decision right now on what to do? >> it depends on what the offsets are. we could close a little loophole. >> they won't do that.

>> i know they won't do that. we have do make the case that this is hurting the economy as well as hurting now a growing number, more than 1.3 million individuals. >> thanks for coming in. >> thank you. coming up, the christie cheerleaders were out in full force on the sunday talk show. still ahead, a controversial trade deal is facing a major hurdle with lawmakers in the house. congressional leaders are finally speaking up about the tpp. stay with us. [ male announcer ] the new new york is open.

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scandal? it is all about media exposure. republicans think if they stay on benghazi that something will surface that the united states leadership did something wrong and it's president obama's fault and hillary clinton. you know how it is. they believe too much attention is being focused on bridge gate. i don't think so. this is their cheap way of trying to turn the conversation. how many congressional hearings do we have to have on fast and furious or irs or benghazi? our next question -- where is darrell isa on bridge gate? not to be found. he had an agenda to take down this president. bridge gate doesn't fall in that

category. people like them and other members of congress, they're not coming out to support chris christie. does it warrant a federal investigation? real close. real close. isa, what's your phone number? stick around. rapid response is next. the dow slides 179 points as investors fret about the upcoming earnings season. nasdaq sheds 61 points. the seller of yoga cut its fourth quarter forecast due to weak sales. that's it from cnbc. ll retire w,

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welcome back to "the ed show." after a busy year of witch hunts, republicans were forced to confront their own scandal over the weekend. isn't it interesting how they handle it? they down played chris christie's bridge gate. their strategy, change the subject. when in doubt, just keep bringing up and banging the drum on benghazi. >> that's always kind of simplistic how could it happen, how could you not have known. how could president obama not have known about the irs targeting massive right wing groups? things go wrong in an

administration. he was in campaign mode. >> there's a big difference in how this administration has handled things. >> we haven't been hearing a lot from the clinton camp about this. i think it's going to be hard for democrats to turn this into an issue. the question is whether the facts are going to turn this into an issue. >> he stood there for 111 minutes in an open dialogue with the press. if hillary clinton would give us a couple of seconds about that, we could find some things about benghazi. >> we have two guests joining us

now. if was in the middle of a crisis and i was a republican, i don't know if karl rove and rudy julianny would be the best guys out there. wasn't christie and hasn't he been somewhat modelled as this is a big potential candidate for 2016? let's throw the kitchen sink at him right away to make sure we're behind this guy. your thoughts on that. >> this is the establishment. they don't believe mike rubio has tanked. they're shoving their chips in. they've shoved them off the george washington bridge and into the hudson river. this is going to have an impact to christie getting any presidential race off the ground. >> these gentlemen i just

mentioned, they're not known as truth seekers. >> when directly asked by david grego gregory, you said obama fostered a culture that made the irs tolerable or permissible, why not here? running for new jersey is different from running the united states of america and being aware of the fact that you're a bully. obama is not known as a bully. you're known as a person with bipartisan support. >> if they're so confident that christie has cleared the beach, why bring up benghazi? why not go on his word? this is what he said. to this point, there is no

direct paper trail to the governor, but of course he's crafty enough we just don't know. >> classic political tactic. they want to muddy the water. they're not sure that he didn't know. they're not sure that another shoe is not going to drop. they want to see the other side does it, which is insane. this woman spent the day with the governor touring new jersey. >> maybe the republicans don't have to defend christie. let him take care of his own problems. we'll let people who have nothing to lose such as karl rove and rudy julianny. you have a bunch of people out there who have nothing to lose by this. >> they're riding the christie

band wagon into 2016. this is the establishment. they don't want the tea party element of the government or of their party to come out. they've got to shore up the process here and make certain that mr. christie is defended. he did come out immediately. he did fire the person. he did hold a press conference. why not let that stand on its own? either he told the truth and the facts will back him up or not. but to bring in benghazi and other things to sully the reputation of the president that's -- >> christie is supposed to go to florida next week to help out rick scott. how does he do that? this guy stands up in front of the american people and saying, i have a lot of things to do in new jersey. >> and he's running to florida

to raise money for another embattled governor and stands a good chance of losing reelections. >> why not focus on getting your staff right? >> the way he conducted his press conference, which he deserves credit for, is his eyes are on 2016. there's no accident he's going to florida. there should be an argument that he shouldn't be appearing with rick scott because he's so unpopul unpopular. he's got his eyes set on 2016. >> you know what it is like in the "god father." it's a smart move. in one defense, it is a smart move. this is a smart move by christie. keep yourself going.

keep your knees moving. keep your legs moving. he has to keep in motion, ed. hoping and praying another crisis will come up and i'll be involved in so many different things that will lessen the attention paid. >> he doesn't care so much about what people in new jersey think of him. what he cares about shoring up support around the country or whoever in the republicans he can, the establishment, the tea party. >> do you think this investigation of sandy funds is going to go anywhere? >> it remains to be seen. it's a serious, serious charge. look, it's a little ham handed to throw yourself in ads funded by the government a few weeks before you're reelected. >> there's a huge upside there. >> he didn't need it. as we were discussing earlier, this was someone who was

cruising to reelection. it's the exact thing to brings his judgment into question. if i put myself in those ads, it will help me get reelected. >> he didn't have to beat up on the mayor of fort lee. you were already ahead at the time. i'm suggesting it's nixonian. >> great to have both of you with us tonight. coming up, a senator amplefies concerns with legislation. to help protect your eye health. as you age, your eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite is a vitamin made just for your eyes from the eye care experts as bausch + lomb. ocuvite has a unique formula that's just not found in any leading multivitamin.

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welcome back to "the ed show." this is the story for the folks who take a shower after work. and if i can start off for just a moment to tell you there comes a time when you have to say okay, this is what i believe in, and this is what i stand for. lawmakers are finally paying attention and taking action

against the transpacific partnership, or tpp as it is known. max baucus, who is not running for reelection has angered some of his colleagues by introducing fast-track legislation for the deal on thursday of last week. fast track means the deal with 12 other nations, including china and vietnam would speed through capitol hill with no debate, no contention, no amendments. the massive trade agreement is being pushed by, of course, big corporations and negotiated behind closed doors which nobody likes in congress. so that's the unifying point there. democrats in the house and senate are becoming more vocal about the secrecy surrounding the deal. house minority leader nancy pelosi was recently quoted saying we want transparency. we want to see what's going on there. we have a problem with that. good. that's a great quote because that's where the democrats need to be. many democrats are worried the actual terms of the deal do not reflect their priorities like the economy.

chris van hollen, the top democrat on the house budget committee is saying recently expressing his concerns that this is a big problem now. this is inadequate engagement on the substance of what will be in an agreement or out of an agreement. in other words, as a democracy, everybody's got to have their say. that's what he is saying. senator max baucus introduced bad legislation with hardly endorsements from his fellow lawmakers who by the way might have to run for reelection. max baucus has nothing to lose by leaving the senate and heading off to china with a trade deal in hand. nobody running for reelection wants to get connected to this whatsoever. this is quicksand politically, and they know it with the folks back home. the tpp, which underscores -- this is just flat-out a bad deal for american workers, and i can't underscore that enough. no one is coming out for this saying we have to do this for x, y, and z. we have to do this for a, b, and c.

it's gad for jobs, good for family, good for security, good for retirement. no one has explained what the upside of this is, and i will not get off the story. so now we have leadership in the house talking about it. and now we've got some in the senate who are somewhat concerned. larry cohen, communications worker, president joins us tonight. mr. cohen, good to have you with us. what has changed here? i understand we have some people in the senate who are now talking about this. >> yeah. we have most of the democrats on the senate finance committee saying to senator baucus we're not part of this party. they're saying we want to start over. they sent a letter to u.s. trade representative froman on friday saying we need a new start. we need to have transparency. we want an open discussion of what is really at stake here for the american people. and they were led by sherrod brown and four others. >> okay. what nancy pelosi said, house democratic leader, what does that signal? >> toxic.

toxic as you just said. toxic. you're running for office, the american people hate these deals. 20 years of nafta, not just the job drain, but competing your wages competing. in this case with wages in vietnam that average 75 cents an hour, a minimum wage of 28 cents an hour. people across this country, it doesn't matter their party. they say no. they are angry. where is their voice in this process? >> why is max baucus doing this? why is he -- and why aren't other lawmakers who are going to have to go through the reelection process right with him on this? >> well, sadly, you have people in both parties, including the democrats who have bought into this export framework. and it's true. for certain exporters, some of them are agricultural, some of them could be high-tech or entertainment exporters, you can see an increase in exporting. in exports from these deals. but the increase in importing and the effect on depressing wages announced the tradeable service sector too including call center jobs and the gutting of the environmental standards.

we're just exporting pollution and the destruction of the climate. so that's what is at stake here. >> how do you stop fast track? i mean, stopping the trade deal may be a bridge too far. but getting amendments and getting discussion, getting debate. >> right. >> will really bring forth i think public pressure. but how do you stop the fast track? >> the biggest coalition we have built to date on trade, it's growing every day. labor is not going to be siloed. we're with the greens. we're with the sierra club. we're with greenpeace. we're with the food safety folks. we're with consumer groups. we're with people worried about what is going to happen to labelling on cigarette packaging. the biggest coalition ever. that's how we stop it. that's what we're building every day. >> a strange coalition here as this are republicans on board. their main issue is sovereignty. >> i must give them credit. they're on the same issue as we are. people like jones in north carolina, for decades he has taken about what happened to textile in north carolina. some of them are on jobs.

some are on sovereignty. it's a strange coalition. >> who is defending nafta? who can stand up and say nafta was good for americans jobs? you say this parallels nafta. >> people do. they just focus on the exports or talk about some global economy. we don't even talk what happened to mexico. i mean, we don't link look at what undocumented immigration was before nafta, a trickle, and a torrent afterwards because we destroyed the agricultural sector in mexico. so this has not worked for everyday people. it has worked for multinational corporations. and sadly, as we know, they're a major voice in our economy. >> there were some folks from the white house that went to capitol hill late last week. what does that signal? >> it signals to me that they're worried. and it signals to me that there is folks in the white house who realize this deal is not going to go. and hopefully, we'll start over, and the president himself who campaigned on this issue in 2008, i think deep down knows that there is a real problem

here. >> okay, larry cohen, president of the communication workers of america, thanks for joining us. >> my pleasure. thank you. >> we'll be reporting on this again as i visit with more lawmakers here on capitol hill here in washington. that's "ed show." i'm ed schultz. "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton starts right now. good evening, rev. >> good evening, ed. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, the christie investigation widens. since governor christie's press conference, it hasn't quieted down. it's only getting hotter. today we learned new subpoenas are likely coming this week for christie's former deputy chief of staff bridget kelly, and for his campaign manager, bill stepien. also today, lawmakers preferred contempt charges to prosecutors after former christie appointee david wildstein refused to answer questions. those charges carry